Busy Times

Just a short blog. Busy, busy, busy. Joseph was born on Thursday afternoon, weighing in at 3.4 kilos. He's much smaller than Will was.I've been looking after Will since Thursday, trying to keep him busy. On Saturday we went to a park and saw some wild monkeys. That was cool. Workouts are going great. I feel really, really strong.
And the man is back. Tiger wins at Bay Hill again, holing a putt for bird on the last again.

Week 10 complete

Hey peoples. Week 10 done and dusted. Feels good. Good friends of mine, Stevie and Sarah, had their first child a few days ago, a daughter, Olivia. Great news, and I know they are just going to love being parents, going by how much they love being cat owners. I'll have my own new baby in a couple of days. I'm looking forward to seeing what he looks like. But it does make me think how different this time is going to be compared with when Will was born. Man, that first kid. Everything is amazing and frightening at the same time. I can't really remember much of Will's first year. When I look at videos he was so small! And quiet! How could he not have been running around pretending he was a whale, or sooking because he wants to eat ice-cream? I'm looking forward to the pressure being off, and the fear ratcheted down, and just enjoying having another little boy around. I'm especially looking forward to seeing Will's reaction. He hasn't been too interested in other babies, except when they're crying - he gets a bit curious, but apart from that, no real interest.
We've been crazy busy the last couple of weeks at work. I haven't had time to write the usual amount of blogs. One thing I don't like about blogs is that people just stop writing them. You get into them, and then the frequency drops off, and then they stop all together. I've just been too busy. So, some milestones have been reached recently. I was 35 on Sunday. Dayum. On Saturday night the three of us went to my favourite restaurant "Cannery Row" (they have a salad bar!) and we pigged out on pasta and cheese fondue. It rained all day Sunday, so we didn't do much. I got one present; a pair of dishwashing gloves from Junko. She said it was a joke, but there was no serious present. Easily the worst birthday ever in terms of gifts. But hey, 35. Grown up. I didn't let it upset me. I'll buy my own presents. For dinner the three of us and the folks went to Yakiniku, which I love. The tables in the restaurant have a built-in gas flame grill, and you order plates of sliced raw meat, and when they come you cook them yourself on the grill. I can't imagine having these in Australia. Can you imagine the public liability insurance the restaurants would have to get to pay out all the Aussies burning themselves? So I OD'ed on beef Sunday night. Fair to say my "No Shit Food Week" was a complete failure. I did eat less snacks and chocolate and stuff, but I think that was because I was always full all the time. So a good birthday.
The workouts have been going well. Today marks 6 months since I started P90, which means a couple of weeks ago was 6 months since I stopped smoking. I can't say I didn't realize that on March 13, but it just seemed like no big deal. Tomorrow will be 70 days since I started P90 Master. I delayed the 60-day picture because I've added an extra week to make up for week 7 which was cut short due to my sore back. Time to put up the 70-day picture.I now weigh 81.5 kilos. When I started P90 Master I was 80 kilos. 6 months ago when I started P90, I was 76 kilos. That's 5.5 kilos I've put on in six months. It's funny, but most people do P90 do lose weight. It just shows how underweight i was when I started. I'd be kicked out of Biggest Loser for sure. Letting the team down. My right knee is aching a little, so the rest day has come just in time.
Well, after Wednesday, I'm taking a month off maternity. I'm entitled to 2 months, but with the economy as it is, probably not a good idea. Junko will be in hospital for 10 or 11 days, and I will be looking after Will. Then, when she's home, I'll be looking after her and Joseph, too. It'll be hard to squeeze in workouts while she's in hospital, but I'll manage. The week with Will will be a test, but I'm ready with a long list of stuff we can do. Anyway, till then, see ya!

Week 10 underway

March 17 - Homesickness. It's like a really slow and boring roller coaster that goes up and down, up and down. I hate it. It starts when I notice the things that don't usually bother me - power lines that block out the sun, men spitting on the street, another TV show about food. Then I might catch a glimpse of Australia on TV, like now when I watch Biggest Loser. So big and clean and green. I can play golf, visit friends. I think of ways my sons would be different if they were raised in Australia.
The thing is, if I go back to Australia, my life would be a struggle. I don't have to worry about employment here. Can you imagine what a relief that is to a guy with a BS degree and no qualifications or experience? I want to have what I have here over there, basically. Well paying job, hobbies, and a family. Am I working to make this happen? No, not really. That's something I need to get sorted.
Anyway, as is always the case, homesickness makes me lazy, so I decided not to get up today and do the workout. I was a bit of a wreck last night. So maybe I can do it tonight, and if I can't, then today is a rest day and I'll start again tomorrow. And I'll have to try and stay positive about where I am. Spring is nearly here, and for three weeks a year when the cherry blossoms bloom, I would actually describe this place as "pretty." Oh yea, and I'm going to have another son in a couple of weeks! I keep forgetting.
I've had a hard time of it lately. It started two weeks ago when I get home from work, all ready for a four day weekend, when Junko tells me that at Will's checkup that afternoon, the doctor told her that Will was "a little different." My first thought was "It's started already." The doctor didn't elaborate, but he did offer training to aid communication.
Japanese people are absolutely fascinated by themselves. There are hundreds of bullshit theories like how the hemisphere's of Japanese people's brains are different, or their intestines are longer. Being Japanese is what defines them. So when they see Will, he is not Japanese. He was born here, has a J passport, but he can never be Japanese. He is a "Haafu" (half). "Oh, halfs are so cute!" "I wish I had a half!" they say. Halfs dominate the fashion magazines and clothing pamphlets. There are half a dozen famous halfs - celebrities, athletes etc. They stand out. And Japanese people watch them, looking for ways they are different, because if they weren't different, then what would being Japanese mean? Will doesn't look Japanese for a start. His hair is the colour of my hair, and he has big, expressive eyes. He's bigger than the other boys. And he's a little bit different, I'll admit. He sings and dances constantly, doesn't listen, and doesn't really like playing with other kids. He is three years old for god's sake. He's not autistic or anything, but he's a fraction odd. But that whole weekend that doctor had me looking at Will, looking for differences just like these people do, and I hate that doctor for that. It took me a few days to come to this realization, and to remind myself that the goal is for Will to be different, because if he becomes another drone with bad teeth and no imagination, I won't have done my job as a father.
*Sigh* Fuck it. I'm going to work out tonight, and put in 100% intensity. Tomorrow is my Friday (because it's a Wednesday), and we've got a farewell party after work for the people from my department who have been laid off. I'm pretty sure there won't be a repeat of the end of year party when I dropped $200 at a Philippino bar before going home and vomiting in my bed. A couple of beers, speak a bit of Japanese, and then home.
Enough with the rant.
March 18 - Whoa! We just had a blow up in the office between a couple of Japanese staff, F and K. They are both dicks, but F does all the work, and K is the guy I told you about who has been working on a "Moving Manual" for nearly a year with nothing to show for it. He is old, and a shell of a man. He literally does not listen. It's like if you say, "I don't think we should do A for these reasons," he will say, "Ok then, let's do A." I have heard him do this many times in meetings.
It's fair to say the pressure is on. The people who are leaving have been laid off because they work for a temp agency (mind you, they've been working here for several years), and they do all the work. The 正社員 ("seishain," or "proper workers") are the famous Japanese "job for life" people that the rest of the world looks at like it's a fantastic thing, and they do nothing because there is no chance of them ever being fired. Well, now, after in some cases decades of refining and perfecting the art of doing nothing, they have to do some fucking work! With actual deadlines! And the pressure is showing. It's funny, because the temp workers haven't even left yet! F and K were having a discussion this morning, and F suddenly yelled "It's not just you! It's not just you!" or something, and the whole floor went silent. The boss, whose favourite saying is "Be kind to others, and strict on yourself," is talking with K now.
The new seating positions have been leaked, and there is some serious behind-the-scenes lobbying for changes. I-san is in charge of the positions. I-san is the type of guy who suggests that everyone stands up when we have meetings because it helps everyone think better. An asshole, in other words. His attitude is that each department should sit together to aid "komyunikeeshon". The idea that people don't want to communicate with certain people, an idea which can be found in all and any culture, dating from pre-history to now, is alien to guys like I-san. It is giving in to the humanity we all possess, a humanity that prevents Japanese people from achieving their true destiny - a nation of automatons ruling the world economy by hard work and patient study.
Check it out - At my desk, I can see about sixty other people at their desks. There are about two hundred people working on my floor. This building has three floors, and it's not even the main building. Yet, we don't have a fridge, a coffee machine, a microwave. We have a tap, a green tea dispenser, and a vending machine full of canned coffee. We don't even have a bin in the kitchen. A cardboard box in the corner has been slowly filling with tea bags and wrappers over the last year. It won't be removed because it's no-one's job to remove it. There are cleaners, but it's not their job to remove a cardboard box full of rubbish. Do you see?
Why? Because it would be weak to have fridge. If we had a fridge, then everyone would bring their own drinks, and then the fridge will be full. And this would create problems. And it would have to become someone's job to make sure that people regularly removed their drinks from the fridge so it wouldn't become full and.. *sigh*. It's too much work. No-one would do it.
If we had a microwave? Then everyone would bring their own lunch, and it would get dirty, then someone would have to clean it, but no-one would, and then it would get disgusting... *sigh*. Same with the coffee machine. If there's one thing I have learnt about Japanese people, if they don't have to do something, they don't do it. I don't think they can. Initiative is as foreign to Japanese people as restraint is to Australians.
March 19 - Wow. Reading back the last few days. I'm not sure if I should post them, because they are just bitchy and have nothing to do with my workout. But living here is sometimes a struggle, and writing about it helps, and if I don't post it, then it's kind of like talking to yourself, isn't it. So I'll post them.
I feel a lot better today. It's Thursday, a beautiful day, and I've got another four days off. The farewell party was ordinary. One guy who is leaving, probably the coolest guy in the department, didn't come to the party. He probably feels pissed off, though he doesn't show it. After the meal the other two people gave speeches. The Chinese lady who's leaving cried when she gave a speech, so that was sad. Then one of the J staff said to our manager, "Boss, would you like to say a few words?" "What?" he said. "No way!" and laughed. What a guy. He did get up eventually and said something like do your best and good luck etc. Asshole.
This morning I did Plyo, and then went and helped out at Junko's family's supermarket. And now I'm going for a ride on my motorcycle. See ya!

Week 9 almost done

Mornin'. I had a good long weekend, busy and fun. I'm getting used to these four-day weekends now. I've learned to pace myself and relax and just go with the flow. It's the three days a week I have to work that are giving me trouble now.
On Thursday the new chest of drawers came to put all the baby clothes in, so I put it together and set it up in our room. I had a great workout, too. My back is almost right now, and I feel like I'm able to really push myself. This week my focus is on intensity, and I tell you what, that's the difference between a crappy workout and a great one. I'm kind of getting the point that if you don't have intensity and you are just going through the motions it's a waste of time. Friday it rained all day, a really crappy day, so I chipped in at the supermarket with Junko's sister and then went home and did my workout. When Will got home from Kinda we went to the library, and I picked up a DVD about whales. He is mad about whales, and he especially loves the last half hour of Pinocchio now. The Okazaki library is brand new, and is awesome.
This morning, a work day, I got up at 5 to do my workout. I just couldn't really get up for it after four mornings of getting up at 8. I did Upper, Middle, Lower, the pushups and bicep curls, and then the situps, and I was absolutely buggered. I made my breakfast - cereal, toast, and a protein shake, and watched last night's episode of Australian Biggest Loser. Some saint uploads them only an hour after they've been broadcast. I hope they get onto the AFL this year too. I have to admit, I love reality TV when it's done properly. It's the only time we get to see real people on TV, and when you see them as much as we see the contestants on Biggest Loser, you really do get to know them. Doesn't mean you like them. Cameron gives me the shits, but I think I'm falling in love with Tiffany. She's still a bit chubby for my liking though. I watched The Footy Show yesterday, and it was a contrast seeing how fake those people are, desperate to keep in the spotlight because they've got nothing much else going for them. Cooney was funny though. But last year, I remember thinking, you know, I really want to see MORE of Shane Crawford. And hey, looks like I will now that he's gone full-time media whore. But my favourite part of The Footy Show was when the Richmond President Gary March called Terry Wallace "a brilliant coach." Since he started, the Tigers have finished 12th, 10th, 16th (last), and 9th. Hardly brilliant. But he is clever. He says, "if the Tigers don't make the finals this year I'm gone," and so when the Presidents is asked if that's the case, he can only say, "well, not necessarily, we'll have to make that judgement if the time comes, but I'm confident we will make the finals and blah blah blah." Why not just say "Yes, we will sack him if we don't make the eight this year"? Put some pressure on him. Why do I keep ranting on about the Tigers? Obviously I have strong feelings about them. I'll have to think about those feelings. I love to hate them.
I've decided that next week, week 10, is going to be about food. But the problem is that I can't go to a health food shop and buy all I need. There are health food shops here, there's one near my house. But it does not sell wholemeal flour. Or oats, or even muesli. I have to go to special supermarkets in Nagoya (about 50 k from where I live) to buy those things. I can't buy turkey slices. Things that the Japanese don't traditionally eat, they don't sell in the supermarket. That makes sense, but it pisses me off. They don't eat brown bread, so you can't buy brown bread. Simple as that. Monoculture. The bread here is white, pure white, and the slices are about an inch thick, and there are usually 4 or 5 slices in a pack, and there are no end crusts (Japanese people don't like crusts, so they don't sell crusts). And that's that. Choice? This bread is only 3/4 of an inch thick, and there are 6 slices. That's about it. I bought a bread machine I got so fucking sick of eating the shit bread here. I love my bread machine. Brown bread! Crunchy crusts! And it only cost me $250. I used to have to go into Nagoya to buy wholemeal flower until I discovered it in a dark corner of the biggest department store in town. What's good about Japanese food? There's never enough to pig out on. Meat is nicer because I don't feel like I'm sitting down to eat half a cow. Instead I get a few mouthfuls and it's beautiful. Lot's of veggies. Lot's of fish. Octopus, prawns, squid, seaweed, I like them all. Despite what you might think, you can't buy whale here. Or at least I've never seen it on a menu or in a shop. If I did, I wouldn't eat it. I wouldn't eat kangaroo or crocodile, either. I'm sure if you really wanted to eat whale, you could find a place. Japanese people almost vomit in their mouth when I tell them we eat rabbits. Back in the old days during the depression, everybody ate rabbits, I say. They had to. Well, back in the old days, they say, after the war when children were starving to death, everybody ate whale. They had to. Fair enough. I am sick to death of rice though. I'm really hating on rice at the moment. So I guess the conclusion is that here it's hard to eat poorly and easy to eat reasonably healthy, but hard to eat really healthy. It's all a matter of finding a local shop that has a selection of health foods comparable to Bayswater Safeway, but I honestly don't think there is one.
Anyway, copulator.

Week 9 - Intense

"No Pause Week - Redux" is over, and was a complete success. My back feels better, and I felt stronger and stronger as the week went on. I think this next week, week 9, will be about intensity, and "Bringing It." "Bring it" is a favourite saying of Tony Horton, the guy who does P90. He is an absolute freak. 50 years old and he looks like a superman.
I've been thinking of my own athletic endeavors over the years. I played football for a few years, but I always went where I thought the ball was going to go, and never where it was. I don't have nay glorious moments where I kicked a goal to win the game or anything. I kicked two goals in a few games I seem to remember, a couple of good snaps, but definitely nothing to tell the grand kiddies about. I did karate too, and became a blue-belt. But when I was 13 I discovered golf. I loved it from the start, and I still love it. The smell of certain trees still takes me back to evenings on the golf course when I was 14 or 15, walking around and hitting balls. I would get so nervous before I played because it meant so much to me that I play well. I remember when my handicap was 7 and I was trying to make the pennant team, someone (wrongly) told me that you had to be off 6 to qualify for the team. So in the month before qualification I stopped handing cards in when I played bad, and had the one good round I needed that got me down to 6. Then I beat everyone in the try-outs. So on the night when they announced the team to play the first round at Royal Melbourne (still my idea of heaven), I couldn't believe it when my name wasn't called out. Because you didn't hand you're cards in, they said. I don't think I have ever been so upset in my life. It broke my heart. Looking back, I did the wrong thing, but I was a pretty intense fifteen year old boy, and a quiet word would have put me straight. It's only the last few years of having a son and thinking about how I'm going to treat him and how boys are treated in general that I've realized those men in charge of organizing pennant made a mistake with me. I don't think my life would have been any different, especially golf-wise. I didn't like practicing what I wasn't good at, because I wasn't good at it. I had a temper. I didn't take care of my equipment. I didn't have the confidence I needed to compete and win. All I wanted to do was hit balls, and I didn't really think about anything else. But I probably could have done without that disappointment.
The lowest my handicap got was 5, and that was only for a few months. I began to enjoy going out more, drinking and smoking. I still loved playing golf, but it was dawning on me that I wasn't that good at it.
How would I describe the next fifteen years? Active? Sometimes. Indoor cricket, even outdoor cricket for a while. Bike riding sometimes. For a while there I would ride to Mount Dandenong, carry my bike up the firebreak, and ride down through Fern Tree Gully. I got pretty fit doing that. Kick to kick with Clint and others at Bayswater West Primary. Got fit doing that. But nothing serious, and nothing sustained. Thing is, I never got fat. I was just worn down by smoking. You can exercise and smoke when you're young, but not in your thirties. It's one or the other. I joined a gym here with a mate, and we went a few times a week for a few months. But I thought it was boring. I have never been to a gym and not wanted to rush through my exercises and go home because it's so boring. I do a lot of walking and riding here. I didn't have a car for many years, and I still only drive on the weekends, maybe to a shop or a park. Whenever I go back to Australia, I hate spending the hour or so a day in the car that you have to to go anywhere.
So this is really the first time I have done any regular exercise.
I've been watching "The Watchmen," but not the movie. It's a moving comic, scenes straight out of the comic, but moving slightly, and with narration. It's really good. I wonder how I have never heard of the Watchmen before they made the movie. I'm not a comic reader, but I'm always on the lookout for quality SF, but I had never heard of this before this year. I'm looking forward to downloading the movie and watching it, especially the scenes with Dr Manhattan on Mars. There is no buzz here, of course. Japan and Western movies are strange. Movies are just coming out here now that have been on DVD for weeks overseas. I don't know how it works. This is the second biggest movie market in the world, so I guess if the movie does well in America, they sit back and think about how they can double up in Japan. The Star Wars movies all came out here two months after the rest of the world. So nobody has heard about the Watchmen here yet.
Speaking of SF, I have just finished the Hyperion series by Dan Simmons. Man, I loved these books. I was listening to them on audiobook all last year when I was constantly travelling back and forth between Australia and Japan to be with mum, so they are all mixed up with the emotions and sadness of that time. They remind me of airports, walking mum's dog Maysie around Bayswater South Primary School on cold, grey Melbourne days, and driving to the hospital in Ringwood. My sister has Coldplay, I have the Hyperion books. Audiobooks are amazing, because even though they go for several hours, I can pick a spot anywhere in the book and tell you exactly where I was when I was listening to it. And I mean exactly. For example, I was crossing the court that's off Edinburough Road up where Steven McEacheran used to live when I was listening to the part where Colonel Kassad attacked the legion of Shrikes.
My sister started a blog recently, and she talked about seeing the last time I saw mum, when I left to go back to Japan in June (I think) last year. I kind of remember it, even though I was consciously trying to remember it as it happened. I remember more vividly going to the hospital in Ringwood to visit her those few weeks I was there. Almost every time she'd be sitting in the chair in front of the window with a hand behind her head. She was always in that position the last month. I guess it was the most comfortable. She was so thin. But she always had a smile, and seemed cheerful enough. Leigh talks about us not really appreciating that she was dying. That's what it was like. We did our best to try and be positive in her presence, so the whole thing seemed confused. It's probably easier to be honest with someone in hospital if they've only broken a leg or something.
Anyway, onward and upward, as she would say.

A translation

If anyone happens upon this who has an interest in Japanese or in translating, I welcome any comments or suggestions. My translating policy is that it is my job to say what the Japanese person said in English. If it is unclear, I will ask the person for an explanation to make it clearer, but if the meaning is clear, like the one below which I got today, I don't try to say it another way, because they probably intended what they wrote to have the exact meaning that it has.

ご注意：
2009年3月より改善工事完了報告書の提出先がCall Centerから各担当営業へ変更がされておりますが、それ以前に作成された完了報告書は、送付先の改訂がされていない物がありますのでご注意をお願い致します。

Caution:
From March, 2009, modification completion reports are to be submitted to the relevant department, and not to the call center. However, please be aware that there are reports written prior to this date that have not had the address corrected.

In other words, if you addressed a report to the call center on February 28th, you sent it to the correct place. However, by the time it reached the call center, it was addressed incorrectly. Therefore, the address should have been corrected before it became incorrect – or conversely, the report should have been addressed incorrectly in anticipation of it becoming correct at a later date.
Cool, hey? Happy to receive any suggestions for improvements, but only if you stick with the Japanese meaning.

Back on Track

I went to the chiropractor on Saturday. First, a young woman warmed me up. She was wearing a mask, maybe because of hay fever, which is rampant here, so it was hard to tell how cute she was. I thought it was just going to be her for forty minutes, which I wouldn't have minded except there wouldn't be any cracking going on. We did a bit of small talk. Then she told me to wait, and she went into another room and told a man that the patient was ready. A guy came out, maybe fortyish, also wearing a mask. Maybe it's a health service thing, like doctors and gowns. Anyway, he massaged me a little more strongly, and we chatted. He asked me what brought me to Japan and I said I didn't know. When I finished uni I didn't really want to get a job, so I called a friend who was in Japan and he said it was fun, and here I am almost ten years later, still here. I said I think I've lasted so long because I wasn't interested in Japan. No stupid anime or samurai bullshit like what brings a lot of people. When they get here, they are like, Hey, there aren't any samurai here! Where are the cute pre-pubescent girls with the shirt skirts? Well, actually, they are here, but it gets kind of sickening after a while seeing twelve year old girls dressing like prostitutes do back home. Anyway, it's not what they were led to believe Japan was like. I had no preconceptions, so I wasn't disappointed, I said, or more like, me no before image of Japan, so no sad when come here. It seemed like he understood. Then he started massaging my neck, and he said that one bone was out of position, then he said, "Please release your neck power." Then CRUNCH. I have to admit I started giggling like a fool. I was still giggling when he did the other side. I kept thinking that this was the physical equivalent of when a psychologist makes a breakthrough with a patient, and the patient cries because of the release of tension after all those years of keeping it bottled up inside. He then cracked my back. He had me sit down on the bench, and then from behind kind of got up over me and pushed down on the back of my neck. For a moment I had an image of him snapping my back in half and slamming my face into my own crotch, and I wanted to say Hey! No! but he did three quick pulses, one - lower back cracks, two - middle back, and three - upper back. Amazing. I paid the money (about $40) and went home, feeling immediately better, especially in the neck. I'd like to go back there every three months and get my neck cracked routinely.
We are getting really busy at work recently. A co-worker has a theory, and he's probably right. Things are getting tight, so everyone feels that they have to justify their position, so they write a lot of meaningless reports which we have to translate. Also, we are squeezing 5 days work into 3. I don't mind at all, because the day goes faster when I'm working hard.
I've nearly finished No Pause Week - Redux. Going well. I'm thankful my back is better - not 100% yet, but getting stronger. I didn't have a lot of junk on the weekend, but I didn't drink enough water and I got a headache yesterday afternoon. I get those Sunday arvo headaches quite often. I don't drink nearly as much water on the weekends as I do during the week.
Nothing much else to report. I enjoyed reading about how Ben Cousins forgot he was a drug addict after a knock to the head last week. I can imagine the scene. Ben, you're a recovering drug addict. Really, oh my god. You missed a year and a half of football. Jeez, that's terrible. Now you play for Richmond. WHAT THE FUCK!? THIS IS NOT HAPPENING! NO!!!!!!!!
Go Tiges 09. Position 09, that is. Mwa-ha-ha-ha. That's right. And if you Richmond supporters have an issue with this, leave a comment!

No Pause Week - Redux

I'm using this time to reflect. Three days off, the most I've had since Hawaii, occurring right in the middle of P90 Master. What am I doing right, and what can I improve on? And where am I going?
I have not missed a workout in a month and a half. 6 workouts a week for almost 7 weeks. Looking at my P90 schedule, I missed heaps of days, and then either doubled up the next day, or did it on my next scheduled break day. My schedule was a mess of arrows, corrections, and compromises. This time, clean as a whistle. It's a habit now. I just get up and do it. It's nice not to have to have that little battle in the head every time I have a workout. I'm pleased with that. Intensity has been good. I know when I'm working hard, and when I find that I'm not, I usually step it up. One thing that Tony Horton says is that if you feel like crap, just press play and have a crap workout. No dramas. That happened at the start quite a bit, but now I find, or I was just starting to find before I hurt my back, that I felt great before, during, and after the workouts, and I can really push it the last 20 minutes. I should be back at that level in a week or so, and I'm looking forward to it. Naturally, I have had the odd day that I just do the workout to get it done, but those days are rare now. And if I have one, it's usually because I had a late night the night before or too many chips or something.
What can I improve? I worry about my back. You can be the fittest man in the world, but if your back is rooted then you can't do a thing. Sitting down at this desk all day can't be doing me any good, and I've never had the best posture. I'm going to have to work on getting it right. Chiropractor, stretching, and just generally looking after it.
Equipment. Weights. I have two sets of dumbbells - 5 kg and 10 kg. I have to start using the 10 kg set more. I'm getting too used to the 5s, and I can pump out a set of 15 reps and not really feel the burn. I do that because it's easier. I need to be struggling after 7 or 8 reps. I need to buy a heart monitor. And I need to figure out how I'm going to do pull-ups in the garage. Pull-ups are a huge part of P90X. I can give the garage a clean out. It's dusty and smells like rotting mandarins.
Food. The big'un. Stop eating shit! I've been saying to myself lately, "Sort it out when you start P90X. Don't worry about it yet." Then I say, "Yea, that makes sense," and I go and buy a pack of chips. On my rest days I say to myself, "You deserve it. You've worked hard all week," and I go and buy myself a pack of chips. Never mind that I have already eaten three or four packs that week. I don't deserve shit. And it's not about being tough on myself, or denying myself anything. It's about not sabotaging my own efforts to get fit. It's not a balancing act between good and bad, or deed and reward. It's about my mind moving in the one direction. If I'm working hard and pushing myself in the garage doing the exercises, how does that mean I can just forget about it on the outside and eat and drink whatever I feel like? I have to get serious, spend the money, buy the shit I need, and do it. In my mind I'm training for P90X, so I should be preparing the ground for the good habits I'm going to need outside the exercises too. That means not buying chips, or having a coffee just because that's what I do at 3 in the afternoon.
>What else? What the hell am I going to do when the baby is born? How can I make sure I get enough sleep? One thing when Will was a baby, I got so cranky sometimes. I'm sure every parent can understand, but I just got so tired and worn down and shitty that I can't say with any honesty that that first year was "fun." I can't really remember much of it. I'm going to have to do something about it this time. Not watch TV an hour every night is a start. Read a book. Listen to relaxing music. Try some meditation. Organize my TV viewing. Watch Lost, or Biggest Loser, or whatever, then turn the thing off.
All in all, I am pleased with my progress, and I seem to be in a great state of mind even though I could be laid off any moment and I'm about to be a father again and I'm living in Japan, all stress-inducers. You might think that this exercise thing has become too important to me, but it's only an hour a day. And this blog is handy for when I'm not busy at work, or I've had enough thinking about nozzles with low impact placement or revolver reset heights or whatever nonsense I'm translating and I want to chill out. It's just something I enjoy at the moment.

My Back Hurts

Ah man. I have really hurt my back somehow. It's been tight all week, and then yesterday I woke up and it was really tight, and I did my exercises and it began to hurt. Lower back, right side. I think when it gets better I might go to a chiropractor. I try to avoid going to doctors here. They are big on pills. I went to the doctor here once for a cold, and he gave me 16 pills a day to take for three days. They left me feeling like a zombie. They are just designed to get the patient back to work, I think. Then again, if I went to the doctor and he didn't give me pills, then I would probably feel ripped off, or that I wasted my time. Funny, isn't it.
But if a chiropractor can crack my back, then that would be awesome. He's going to tell me that one leg is longer than the other, which is what they all say. But it might account for the curvature of the spine. It would make a good post for a blog, too. Dammit, I'll do it!
So what to do about the exercises? It's a shame because I was just starting to really hit my stride. I think week 7 will have to be written off. I'll take Monday and Tuesday off, Wednesday is my rest day, and start "No Pause Week - Redux" on Thursday. This will put the completion date back a week, to April 21. I think the problem is the sit ups. On Saturday I did one exercise called "leg lifts" which is just lying on your back raising your straight legs of the ground. I did them with my hands behind my head when they should have been under my ass. I remember thinking "Man, this doesn't feel right." I think I'll just do an hour stretching tonight and tomorrow night and see how that goes. If it doesn't hurt doing pushups I'll do them and the bicep curls. Apart from that, not much else I can do.
You might not know it from this blog, but I'm going to become a father again in a few weeks. It's another boy, and we've decided to name him "Joseph." There is no reason why we chose this name. Junko is booked in for another Cesarean on the 26th of March, and I'm going to take a month off work to look after Will while she's in hospital and after she comes home. I cannot really describe how I feel about this baby. I forget that we are actually having another baby most of the time. Last time it was all about Will, Will, Will for months before he was born. Gotta get this, gotta do that, wow, isn't it going to be amazing etc.. This time it's more, oh yea, when the Masters is on the baby will have been born. I guess the pressure is off for little Jo-kun.
I wonder what kind of life these brothers are going to have here. They won't lack for anything, this isn't Somalia, but they will be raised in a Monoculture that rejects anything different. Same is good, different baaaad. Junko doesn't like to see it, but I see it all the time. People, his own relatives, not speaking to him because they are not sure he understands Japanese. Other boys running away from him or treating him like a curiosity. When I think about this, I get upset, of course, just like when any parent thinks about their child being teased or bullied. I have two things to teach my sons. English, and how to win fights. If they can just just keep it together until they get into high school, man, the pussy they are going to get!
Speaking of fights, I saw "Changeling" on Thursday. Angelina Jolie is way too thin. But halfway through the film, she says to her son, "Never start a fight, but always finish it." I thought, "That's funny. That's what Captain Sheridan's father always always told him on Babylon 5." Didn't think anything else about it until the end credits when the writer's name came up. J. Michael Straczynski, the guy who made Babylon 5. There you go. I also saw "Valkyrie" last night. I have to say, easily the best movie I have seen for a long time. Very, very tense. My heart was still beating hard when I tried to go to sleep after watching it. It's funny how the whole world likes to bag Tom Cruise now. He has been making quality movies for 20 years. But we have to think he's weird because his god didn't walk on water and come back to life as a completely different person after being dead for three days before flying up to heaven, but instead blew a bunch of aliens up in a volcano which now live in everyone and need to be expunged. Who cares. If he can make a movie I can actually sit through then he is a champion. Couldn't sit through Dark Knight. Turned off Blindness after five minutes. I can't bring myself to watch Role Models, Slumdog Millionaire. Revolutionary Road? Relax, you guys aren't that special! Body of Lies was ok. I want to see Watchmen, but it's the guy who made 300. I like to tell guys who liked 300 that it is the gayest movie ever made, and watch them reel in shock as they realize Yes, it is gay. And I loved it. That must mean I am gay too.
In other news, Geoff Ogilvy won again this morning. Could he issue the challenge to Tiger? Hope so. His 2006 US Open win was awesome. Chips in on 17, then a perfect drive into a divot on 18, great 8-iron that hits the front of the green and rolls off, sweet chip up to four feet, and holes the putt for par. I don't know how he stayed upright under all that pressure, let alone make that great par on the last. That tournament will always be known for Phil Mickleson and Colin "Mrs Doubtfire" Montgomery (is that the greatest nickname is sport or what? Some one in the crowd yelled it out a few years ago and it has stuck) double-bogeying the last to lose, but Geoff won it in style. I used to go out with a girl whose best friend was Ogilvy's cousin, so I can call him Geoff. Anyway, two wins in 09 already, though the first was a limited entry event (only the winners from 2008 played) and this one was the World Matchplay Championship (set up like a tennis tournament - players compete against each other in rounds). Not proper events, really, but the Matchplay is pretty prestigious. Tiger played it, and he only plays the meaningful tournaments.
So no Tiger video today. In fact, I'll only put up the occasional one from now on. But here is a video of chickens breaking up a fight between two rabbits

and one amazing rooster.

The next few days are about healing. Then it's time to rip shit up and BRING IT! Again!